By Brian Eckhouse, Stephanie Tavares

Fri, Sep 26, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Yes, truckers are known for colorful language. But they usually don’t use it when addressing staid business leaders at an otherwise tame conference.

Thursday, a panelist representing the American Trucking Association at an economic forum on energy and the environment dropped “raghead” on an unsuspecting crowd at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Asked by an audience member about the potential food and livestock feed shortages due to the production of corn-based biofuels, Charles “Shorty” Whittington — first vice chairman of the board of the American Trucking Association — said there was more than enough corn in the United States to provide both food and biofuel supplies. That is, if the United States would just stop exporting corn.

“We export corn to those ragheads who feed us high-priced oil,” Whittington complained.

Another member of the audience, Travis Cochran of Las Vegas, repeated the derogatory term for Arabs and Sikhs when he asked a follow-up question on biofuels. He said he repeated the slur in an effort to get Whittington to explain himself.

That prompted the conference’s master of ceremonies, Van Heffner, president and chief executive office of the Nevada Hotel and Lodging Association, to get up and whisper in Whittington’s ear. Whittington then offered an apology to the crowd of about 60, saying he had let his passion on the subject of biofuels get the better of him.

In an interview afterward, Whittington, the owner of an Indiana trucking company specializing in the transportation of fertilizer materials, said: “I totally apologize for that.”

Whittington then attempted to clarify his views: Several nations in the Middle East and elsewhere “with hostile feelings toward America,” he argued, are the beneficiaries of U.S. subsidies for corn.

Whittington’s slur surprised many in the audience, which had heard a mix of scholarly reports and rhetoric from panelists that included utility executives, economists and industry association leaders.

Joseph Byrne of Aliquantus Energy Group of Portland, Ore., was one of several people in the crowd who said Whittington’s word choice was inappropriate. Others, who declined to provide their names, said they found it amusing.

Sponsors and organizers quickly distanced themselves from Whittington’s remark.

“We do not support any derogatory comments or posture toward any culture,” Heffner said. “We support cultural diversity with respect.”

Similar sentiments were offered by representatives of NV Energy, Harrah’s Entertainment and others who put the conference together.

“I’m just shocked,” said Alice Martz, chief executive of the Henderson Chamber of Commerce. “We don’t condone any racial slur. I never dreamed anything like this would happen.”